PfSt 


Duke  University  Libraries 

The  Monroe  Doct 
Conf  Pam  12mo  #788 


(P«^ 


V9 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE. 


SPEECH 

OF 

HON.    J).   C.   DeJARNETTE, 

OF    VIRGINIA, 

IX  THE 

CONFEDERATE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 

J  A  NUARY    30TH,    18  6  S  , 
PENDING   NEGOTIATIONS    FOR    PEACE. 


Mr.  DeJarnette,  of  Virginia,  offered  the  following  resolution  : 

Wukreas,  All  nations  have  ever  witnessed  with  alarm  the  establishment  of  any 
formidable  power  in  their  vicinity;  ond  whereds,  the  people  of  the  Confederate 
States,  as  well  as  the  people  of  the  United  States,  have  ever  cherished  the  resolve 
that  any  further  acquisition  of  territory  in  North  America,  by  any  foreign  power, 
would  be  inconsistent  with  their  prosperity  and  development ;  and  whereas,  the 
invasion  of  Mexico  by  Fiance  has  resulted,  as  alleged,  in  the  establishment  of  a 
government  founded  on  the  consent  of  the  governed;  we,  nevertheless  havine 
reason  to  believe  that  ulterior  designs  are  entertained  against  California  and 
other  Pacific  States,  which  we  do  not  regard  as  parties  to  the  xar  now  w 
against  us,  as  they  have  noil  er  farnishe'i  men  nor  money  for  its  prosecution  ; 
therefore,  the  Congress  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America  do 

Resolve,  That  the  time  may  not  be  far  distant  when  we  will  bo  prepared  to 
unite,  on  the  basis  of  the  independence  of  the  Confederate  States,  with- those 
most  interested  in  the  vindication  of  the  Monroe  doctrine,  to  the  exclusion  of  all 
seeming  violations  of  those  principles  on  the  continent  of  North  America. 

Mr.  DeJarnette  said  : 

Mr.  Speaker — Impelled  by  convictions  of  public  duty,  as  well  us 
in  deference  to  the  counsels  of  those  whose  opinions  T  cannot  >l 
irtitil  1  have  offered  this  resolution.  I  am  fully  aware,  sir,  of  he 
responsibility  that  I  have  assumed  in  proposing  a  platform,  at  this 
juncture,  (pending  the  efforts  of  our  Peace  Commissioners)  upon 
which  to  base  negotiations  for  peace  and  independence,  and  1  ap- 
preciate, to  their  full  extent,  the  difficulties  that  environ  the  grave 


I 


\ 


question  at  issue.  Whatever  may  be  the  results  to  me,  personally, 
of  the  responsibility  that  I  have  thus  assumed,  I  shall  cheerfully 
embrace  them,  if  1  can  thereby  be  the  instrument  of  directing  'he 
minds  of  the  members  of  this  House  to  that  channel  of  thought  and 
action  which,  in  my  judgment,  can  alone  lead  speedily  to  the  desired 
consummation. 

And  let  me  say  here,  sir,  before  proceeding  further,  in  behalf  of 
the  people  I  have  the  honor  to  represent  on  this  floor,  that  they  are 
willing  to  tolerate  no  alliance  nor  arrangement  with  the  United 
States  Government  that  is  not  based  upon  the  unqualified  recogni- 
tion of  their  independence.  This  is  their  ultimatum,  and  to  this 
they  have  solemnly  pledged  their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their  sa- 
cred honor. 

Success  in  all  undertakings  depends  upon  preserving  a  proper 
proportion  between  the  means  employed  and  the  ends  to  be  attained: 
therefore,  in  order  to  obtain  a  recognition  of  the  independence  of 
the  Confederate  States,  it  is  indispensably  necessary  to  demonstrate 
that  it  is  to  the  interest  of  those  at  whose  hands  we  ask  such  recog- 
nition to  grant  it.  When  this  is  done  negotiations  will  commence, 
and  not  before  ;  for  the  history  of  the  world  has  given  evidence  of 
the  truth  that  the  a.ctions  of  nations  are  not  guided  by  sentiments 
of  favor  or  affection,  but  are  the  result  of  selfish  motives,  looking 
to  their  own  aggrandizement. 

Indeed,  sir,  governments,  the  mere  agents  or  representatives  of 
the  people,  and* charged  with  the  preservation  of  the  rights,  liber- 
ties, peace  and  prosperity  of  those  whom  they  represent,  cannot,  in 
justice  to  those  for  whom  they  stand  in  stead,  afford  to  be  generous. 
Their  actions  should  be  directed  alone  to  the  accomplishment  of  the 
object  for  which  they  were  instituted. 

Success,  therefore,  in  negotiations  for  peace,  recognition,  aid  or 
intervention,  depends  on  the  amount  of  benefit  conferred  on  the 
power  approached  and  not  on  the  advantages  gained  by  the  party 
that  seeks  them.  If  peace  be  sought,  I  hold  that  the  only  chance 
or  hope  of  success  depends  on  the  fact  that  it  is  demonstrably  to  the 
interest  of  those  with  whom  we  are  at  war  to  make  peace ;  if  recog- 
nition or  aid  be  sought,  the  chances  of  success  are  in  exact  propor- 
tion to  the  amount  of  benefit  which  is  received  for  such  aid  or  re- 
cognition. 

The  merit  of  the  resolution  which  I  have  offered  consists  in  making 
it  to  the  interest  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  recog- 
nize the  independence  of  the  Confederate  States  in  order  to  secure 
a  union  of  their  arms  with  ours  for  the  expulsion  of  England  and 
France  from  the  continent  of  North  America.  This  would  give  the 
United  States  commercial  supremacy  and  the  control  of  the  seas, 
and  would  place  them  far  beyond  the  hostile  reach  of  these,  their 
hitherto  successful  rivals.  A  union  of  our  arms  on  this  basis  would 
be  fatal  to  the  policy  and  interest  of  England,  because  her  power 
is  based  on  the  influence  of  her  commerce,  and  on  the  dominion  that 
she  exercises  upon  the  ocean  5  and  the  rising  hopes  of  commercial 


power  indulged  in  by  France  would  be  crushed  from  the  fact  that 
she  would  be  driven  from  our  Pacific  coast — a  position  which  she 
must  hold  if  she  would  successfully  grapple  with  England  in  the 
great  struggle  which  must  soon  come  between  the  rivals  for  the  Pa- 
cific trade — a  trade  which  is  paramount  at  present  and  which  ever 
has  been  the  source  of  commercial  power  and  wealth  in  all  ages, 
springing  as  it  does  from  the  labor  of  the  eight  hundred  millions  of 
inhabitants  of  Asia. 

union  of  our  arms  and  those  of  the  United  States  would 
give  that  power  all,  and  more  than  all,  than  they  can  hope  to  ac- 
complish by  our  subjugation,  even  supposing  that  there  are  any  at 
the  North  who  are  so  wilfully  blind  as  not  to  see  the  utter  impossi- 
bility of  subduing  eight  millions  of  freemen  ;  and  hence  is  it  to 
their  interest  to  recognize  us.  In  the  same  proportion  that  the 
United  States  would  be  benefitted  will  France  and  England  suffer. 
In  the  case  of  die  former  power,  the  new  born  hopes  of  commercial 
prosperity  that  have  developed  themselves  in  the  policy  of  France 
would  be  crushed  in  the  bud;  in  the  case  of  the  latter,  the  tradi- 
tional domination  in  commerce  that  has  fed  the  anogance  and  min- 
istered to  the  grandeur  of  England,  would  pass  away  with  her  ex- 
pulsion from  the  avenues  of  commercial  wealth  ;  and  hence  m  it, 
that  in  the  case  of  these  two  powers — thirsting  as  they  are  for  the 
complete  and  bloody  destruction  of  this  people — is  the  path  of  their 
duty  to  their  own  interests  open  plainly  before  them  :  to  prevent 
by  a  recognition  of  the  independence  of  these  Confederate 
States,  and  a  preservation,  if  needs  be,  of  that  independence,  the 
consolidation  of  our  arms  with  those  of  the  United  States,  a  con- 
solidation that  would  bear  with  it  the  irresistible  motive  power 
wielded  by  a  million  of  veteran  soldiery  inflamed  with  the  lessons 
that  the  perfidy,  ill-disguised  malice  and  unseemly  self-congratula- 
tions of  France  and  England,  exhibited  during  the  course  of  this 
war,  havo  taught  them. 

To  use  theso  conflicting  relations  and  antagonistic  agencies  in  the 
work  of  our  independence,  and  to  stop  the  further  effusion  of  blood, 
is  the  object  sought  to  be  gained  by  the  resolution  that  T  have  offer- 
ed. To  show  .is  adaptation  to  this  end,  is  tho  argument  in  favor 
of  its  adoption. 

It  is  unquestionably  to  the  interest  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  to  recognize  our  independence  on  the  basis  of  re- 
ciprocal free  trade  and  tho  free  navigation  of  our  rivers  and  har- 
bors, because  this  would  give  them  all  the  advantages  that  the  Union 
formerly  gave  them.  But  they  desire  tho  re-establishment  of  the 
Union  now,  in  order  that  they  may  obtain  that  protection  which  its 
consolidated  power  would  afford.  Peaco  on  tho  basis  proposed 
would  give  them  that  consolidated  power,  and  they  would  enter  at 
once  into  the  full  fruition  of  all  the  advantages  it  would  secure. 
For  then  would  the  opulent  English  province  of  Canada  fall  into 
their  hands,  a  result  at  this  time  more  satisfactory  to  the  Northern 
mind  than  would  be  even  the  subjugation  of  the  South,  if  such  sub- 


jugation  could  enter  into  the  probabilities  of  the  day  ;  and,  at  the 
same  time,  that  consolidation  would  ensure  the  breaking  of  Eng- 
land's hold  upon  the  Pacific  which,  as  I  shall  demonstrate,  it  is  ne- 
cessary for  her  to  retain  if  she  is  longer  to  control  the  trade  of  tie 
Pacific.  It  will  enable  the  United  States  to  hold  California  and 
their  Pacific  States— which  will  lapse  from  their  possession  if  this 
war  continues  for  six  months  longer— by  consummating  the  expul- 
sion of  the  Frerch  power  from  Mexico,  a  power  which  has  been 
planted  in  that  distracted  country  by  France,  so  that  when  this  war 
shall  have  thoroughly  exhausted  the  United  States,  she  may  be  in 
readiness  to  hold  and  occupy  the  Pacific  States  with  a  view  of  coping 
successfully  with  England  for  the  empire  of  the  seas.  Mexico  will 
be  left  as  France  found  her,  to  be  absorbed,  by  contact  and  associa- 
tion, with  us,  and  the  African  will  resume  his  march  to  the  Equator, 
there  to  work  out  his  destiny  on  the  Amazon  and  the  La  Plata. 

From  the  union  of  arms  proposed  to  be  brought  about  by  the 
resolution  that  I  have  offered,  the  United  States  will  become  pos- 
sessed of  the  sceptre  of  commercial  power,  and  the  commercial  cen- 
tre of  the  world  will  be  changed  from  London  to  New  York.  The 
South,  in  the  peaceful  enjoyment  of  her  independence,  will  devote 
herself  to  agriculture,  and  thus  furnish  food  and  clothing  for  the 
world,  and  the  North  with  its  ships  and  factories  will  realize  the  fact 
that  agriculture  is  the  hand  maid  of  commerce. 

This  result,  sir,  will  be  obtained  without  further  bloodshed,  be- 
cause a  union  of  our  arms,  on  the  basis  proposed,  would  present 
eight  hundred  thousand  men,  the  heroes  of  a  hundred  bloody  fields, 
in  lino  of  battle ;  the  respective  nations  on  the  best  possible  war 
footing,  and  on  the  war  path.  This  spectacle  would  intimidate,  as 
it  has  astonished,  the  world.  Presenting,  this  consolidated  power, 
recognition  of  our  independence  would  be  freely  accorded  us  by 
the  rest  of  the  world,  because  nations  look  to  their  interests  alone 
and  direct  their  actions  to  that  end. 

I  am  confident  that  this  result  will  follow  if  this  resolution  be 
adopted  as  a  basis  upon  which  we  propose  to  rest  present  negotia- 
tions. But  I  do  not  doubt  but  that  the  adoption  of  such  a  resolution 
will  urge  England  and  France  to  recognize  our  independence  in  or- 
der to  prevent  the  consolidation  of  such  a  power,  on  the  basis  con- 
templated, as  will  prove  fatal  to  their  commercial  prosperity. 

This  war,  sir,  if  not  created,  was  instigated  by  England  to  des- 
troy her  most  formidable  rival  for  the  trade  of  the  Pacific.  She 
had  watched  our  every  movement  and  noted  every  step  that  we  had 
taken  to  commercial  importance.  She  had  thrown  every  obstruc- 
tion in  the  way  of  our  progress  and  in  vain  endeavored  to  crush 
our  navy  and  diminish  our  commercial  tonnage.  That  tonnage  she 
saw  steadily  advance  until  it  had  assumed  proportions  greater  than 
her  own.  This  increase  admonished  her  that  soon  our  power  would 
become  supreme,  and  would  win  for  that  tonnage  its  proper  influ- 
ence in  controlling  the  commerce  of  the  world,  and  she  must  des- 
troy it  or  resign  her  sway  over  the  seas.    She  had   not  the  power 


to  accomplish  this  destruction  by  the  brute  force  of  arms,  and,  there- 
fore, she  had  to  resort  to  her  diplomacy.  The  abolition  sentiment 
which  she  manufactured  for  this  purpose  is  about  to  do  its  work, 
and,  unless  it  can  be  arrested,  as  in  this  manner  is  proposed,  her 
object  will  be  accomplished. 

The  struojrle,  Mr.  Speaker,  which  has  been  going  on  in  Europe 
since  the  establishment  of  the  Saracenic  power  on  the  Bosporus, 
which  thus  closed  the  western  gate  of  Asia,  has,  for.  the  last  two  hun- 
dred years,  been  repeated  on  this  continent.  Spain,  with  stronger 
ships  and  more  adventurous  navigators,  fin*  reached  the  Pacific 
and  secured  the  trade  of  Asia.  From  Spain  this  trade  fell  to  Por- 
tugal, and  from  Portugal,  through  the  bigotry  of  Ferdinand  II,  to 
Holland,  and  from  Holland  to  Denmark.  By  the  wealth  and  power 
which  that  trade  created,  those  nations,  whilst  they  possessed  it, 
held  the  dominion  of  the  seas.  England,  by  the  appliance  of  the 
arts  of  treachery,  obtained  it  from  Denmark,  and  for  the  last  huu- 
dred  years,  England  and  France  have  been  the  competitors  for  that 
trade. 

The  first  war  of  independence  would  not  have  ended  when  it  did 
had  not  the  King  of  France  extended  one  hand  to  our  assistance 
in  order  the  more  fully  to  engage  England's  attention,  whilst  with 
the  other,  he  grasped  the  British  possessions  in  India.  The  armies 
raised  by  England  for  our  subjugation  were  sent,  after  the  surren- 
der at  Yorktown,  to  drive  the  French  from  India,  as  Bhe  p 
losing  her  colonics  to  allowing  the  French  to  establish  supremacy 
in  the  East.  Thus  the  rivalry  between  England  and  Prance  iu  the 
pursuit  of  the  trade  of  the  Pacific  was  the  means  of  achieving  our 
independence,  and  will  as  certainly  be  the  means  of  pre  it  if 

we  make  a  judicious  use  ot  the  peculiar  advantage*  we  hold  and 
the  power  that  this  war  has  developed.  This  is  a  commercial  war, 
waged  for  commercial  supremacy,  and  its  influence  cannot  be  con- 
fined to  this  continent.  The  effort  to  stem  with  the  hand  the  tide 
that  leaps  in  lordly  majesty  over  the  rock  of  Niagara  would  bo  as 
fruitless  as  the  effort  to  shield  France  and  England  from  the  disas- 
trous results  of  this  terrible  and  comprehensive  war;  provide! 
they  do  not  move  promptly  for  their  own  protection.  I  would  not, 
Mr.  Speaker,  upon  the  floor  of  this  House,  utter  a  threat  that  hos- 
tilejcriticism  might  attack  on  the  plea  of  our  present  condition  of  war; 
but  I  will  say,  and  in  speaking  the  warning  I  but  re-echo  the  senti- 
ments of  this  people,  whose  record  is  written  in  letters  of  blood 
with  the  point  of  the  avenging;:  sword,  that  those  nations  who  havr* 
supinely  and  with  callous  indifference  held  aloof  from  this  quarrel, 
by  reason  that  it  was  none  of  theirs — callously,  if  we  may  judge 
them  by  their  words  and  actions,  but  with  a  savage  glee  at  wit- 
nessing this  carnival  of  blood,  if  the  secrets  of  their  governmental 
charnal  house  were  but  laid  bare — those  nations,  I  say,  that  have 
thus  plotted  their  aggrandizement,  at  the  expense  of  the  blood  of 
the  people  of  these  Confederate  States,  may  learn  at  some  future 
day,  when,  under   God's  good    Providence,  we  have   earned  our 


6 

title  to  freemen,  that  the  revenges  that  Time  holds  in  its  keeping 
are  not  always  forgotten,  and  that  a  proud  and  high  spirited  race 
while  biding  their  time,  do  not  fail  to  remember,  with  a  fitting  re- 
membrance, those  who,  in  their  days  of  seeming  adversity,  slurred 
them  with  the  open  taunt  or  the  half-disguised  words  of  hatred. 
But,  sir,  to  proceed  to  the  subject-matter  of  my  remarks. 

Since  the  formation  of  artificial  society,  commerce  has  be6n  the 
great  Archimedean  lever  which  has  moved  the  world.  It  has  been 
the  great  king-maker  and  law-giver  of  the  Universe.  Kingdoms 
and  empires  exist  dependent,  alone,  on  its  capricious  will.  When  its 
laws  are  obeyed  and  its  presence  courted,  it  scatters  its  bounty  with 
a  prodigal  hand,  but  when  its  influence  is  disregarded,  or  it  becomes 
lost  to  States  by  the  hand  cf  change  or  ill-fortune,  it  leaves  behind 
it  the  wrecks  of  a  vanished  glory  and  the  memory  of  a  greatness 
fallen.  Upon  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  along  the  once  op- 
ulent Levant,  the  old  seats  of  commerce  are  marked  by  the  mould- 
ering ruins  which  speak  at  once  of  its  pomp,  its  greatness  and  its 
decline.  The  world's  history  is  filled  Math  the  glories  of  its  reign. 
In  the  picture  of  human  progress  and  civilization,  the  great 
marts  of  commerce  fill  up  the  centuries  with  the  spectacle  of  their 
splendor,  their  luxuries  and  their  final  decay.  In  the  mysterious 
centuries  before  the  Christian  era — centuries  splendid  with  the  re- 
cords of  flourishing  arts — the  almost  fabulous  beauty  of  Carthage 
and  Tyre  and  Sidon  seems  but  the  creation  of  a  poet's  fancy ;  and 
but  for  the  recorded  magnificence  of  Genos  the  Superb,  and  Venice 
the  Beautiful — Genos  and  Venice,  whereof  the  argosies  whitened  the 
waters  of  all  discovered  seas — we  might  be  led  to  believe  as  almost 
apocryphal  the  story  of  the  greatness  of  the  old  seats  of  trade. 

In  its  various  changes  of  dominion,  commerce  has  rested  upon  the 
Isles  of  the  sea,  and  there  it  enables  them  to  demand  and  receive 
tribute  of  the  world.  The  highest  hopes  and  aspirations  of  all  na- 
tions have  been  to  possess  and  control  it,  because  they  know  that 
no  wealth  can  be  acquired,  nor  power  preserved,  without  it.  To 
possess  the  trade  of  Asia,  Europe  has  been  made,  in  every  generation 
lor  two  thousand  years,  to  tremble  under  the  shock  of  contending  ar- 
mies, beneath  whose  tread  vanquished  nations  have  disappeared. 

And  now,  sir,  England,  to  preserve  that  trade,  has,  by  the  cun- 
ning tricks  of  her  tortuous  diplomacy,  instigated  this  war  which  has 
drenched  our  once  happy  land  with  precious  blood.  This  war,  sir, 
has  developed  a  power  here  which,  on  the  basis  proposed,  can  be 
united,  and  the  advantages  of  our  geographical  position  would  en- 
able us  to  drive  England  from  the  Pacific  without  a  struggle.  When 
England  is  thus  deprived  of  her  colonies  and  her  commerce,  her 
government  cannot  survive  save  beneath  the  burden  of  her  four  thou- 
sand millions  of  debt,  and  the  wreck  of  her  now  splendid  empire 
will  not  be  less  complete  than  that  of  tho  p]astern  Empire  of  Rome. 
The  most  powerful  engine  ever  constructed  lies  still  and  immovable 
until  touched  by  the  master -hand,  when  its  ponderous  wheels  spring 
to  life  and  move  with  resistless  force ;  thus  the  weight  of  a  finger 


properly  applied  accomplishes  what  the  most  powerful  agents  could 
not  achieve.  England  has  witnessed  the  horrors  of  this  desolating 
war  with  savage  indifference,  because  her  most  dangerous  rival  was 
wasting  her  strength  in  its  prosecution.  But  adopt  this  resolution, 
and  you  touch  the  secret  of  ner  power,  and  she  will  move  with 
promptitude  for  her  own  preservation. 

Should  this  war  end  in  our  defeat  or  in  re  construction,  in  either 
event  the  result  to  her  would  be  the  same.  She  will  discover  in 
this  movement  a  dcsiern  to  fall  in  with  the  current  popular  senti- 
ment at  the  North  for  her  expulsion  from  this  cur.iii.eiU,  not  so 
much  from  a  desire  to  possess  Canada  as  from  a  wish  to  drive  her 
from  her  position  on  the  Pacific  coast,  which  it  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary that  she  should  hold  in  order  to  possess  the  trade  of  Asia. 

The  government  of  the  United  States  is  waging  this  war  lor  com- 
mercial advantages.  By  subjugating  the  South  they  would  hold  a 
monopoly  of  cotton.  An  export  duty  on  that  article  would  be 
arranged  that  all  the  cotton  factories  of  England  would  be  cl< 
The  cheapness  of  (lie  raw  material  to  them  would,  notwithstanding 
the  cheap  labor  and  capital  of  England,  enable  the  United  States 
to  undersell  the  English  manufacturers  in  the  markets  of  the  world. 
It  would  also  give  them  consolidated  power,  but  not  to  the  extent 
contemplated  by  this  resolution,  as  this  would  be  voluntary— but 
power  sufficient  to  enable  theui  to  assume  their  legitimate  position 
— that  of  mistress  of  the  seas. 

The  only  line  of  conduct  for  England  to  follow  is  to  carry  out, 
on  this  continent,  her  balance-power  European  system  — tba^  is,  pre- 
serve the  independence  of  the  Confederate  S  is  a  balance- 
power  to  the  United  States  and  prevent  a  consolidation  of  those 
powers,  as  that  would  certainly  prove  fatal  to  her. 

We,  holding  this  position,  would  accept  the  proposition  most  ben- 
eficial to  us.  The  independence  of  the  South,  on  the  basis  proposed, 
would  not,  in  any  matter,  affect  the  North  injuriously ;  bur.  on  the 
contrary,  it  would  strengthen  that  government  by  promptly  yielding 
the  support  of  our  military  arm  to  preserve  its  commercial  suprem- 
acy, and  by  removing  the  cause  of  domestic  discontent—  that  conflict 
which  must  exist  where  free  labor  and  slave  labor  are  confederated 
in  the  same  social  Bystem.  These  two  principles  are  naturally  au- 
tistic, arid,  from  opposite  natures,  must  move  in  opposite  direc- 
tions. Free  labor  has.  by  the  oppression  of  capital  in  all  govern- 
ments and  in  all  aires,  diminished  in  value  daily  ;  and  thus  it  is  con- 
stantly failing  until  it  reaches  the  fundamental  pi  inciple  of  the  gov- 
ernment, which,  for  its  own  preservation  it  must  assail,  and  the  gov- 
ernment must  be  destroyed.  Slave  labor,  being  capital,  moves  in 
the  opposite  direction.  Every  day  adds  to  its  value  ;  and  the  basis 
of  all  governments  being  labor,  which  is  the  only  revolutionary  ele- 
ment, thej  must  fail  unless  that  labor  is  interested  in  their  preserva- 
tion, which  cannot  be  in  free  society,  because  in  such  a  society  labor 
diminishes  in  value,  and,  the  necessaries  of  life  advancing,  an  irre- 
pressible conflict  ensues  which  must  destroy  the  government. 


8 

This  war  has  proved  that  these  opposing  elements  of  free  and 
slave  labor  cannot  remain  in  harmony  in  the  same  Confederation. 
To  separate  them  would  be  mutually  beneficial.  Successful  agricul- 
ture, the  handmaid  of  commerce,  demands  the  absolute  control  of  la- 
bor. In  free  society,  labor  naturally  leaves  the  less  intellectual  avoca- 
tions of  the  plough  and  the  furrow  for  the  higher  employments  af- 
forded in  the  mechanical  arts  or  commercial  pursuits. 

The  natural  tendency  of  free  labor  is  to  make  a  nation  commer- 
cial in  its  pursuits,  whilst  slave  labor  is  from  its  nature  adapted  to 
the  requirements  of  agriculture.  They  move  in  distinct  orbits, 
but  they  can,  by  conventional  agreement,  be  made  with  reciprocal 
good  will,  mutually  to  sustain  and  support  each  other.  It  is  tbus  that 
the  United  States  and  the  Confederate  States  can  move  on  to  the 
fulfilment  of  that  destiny  which  I  truly  believe  is  written  for  our 
accomplishment. 

If  this  bright  prospect  for  such  glorious  results  be  disregarded 
by  the  United  States,  England  and  France  are  not  insensible  to  the 
advantages  which  a  coalition  with  us  would  afford  them.  France  is 
now  reduced  to  a  great  extremity.  The  taxes  on  her  people  have 
been  doubled,  whilst  not  a  sou  has  been  added  to  their  wealth.  The 
present  Emperor,  having  determined  to  profit  by  the  example  of  his 
uncle,  and  in  order  to  secure  the  succession  for  his  sou,  must  endear 
himself  to  his  people.  He  is  devoted  to  France,  and  he  seeks  her 
prosperity  in  order  to  earn  the  gratitude  of  the  French  nation. 
Mindful  of  the  powerful  influence  of  commerce  in  securing  a  na- 
tion's wealth,  he  united  with  England  in  the  Crimean  war  in  order 
to  prevent  Russia  from  opening  the  Western  gate  of  Asia,  through 
which  until  it  was  closed,  flowed  that  tide  of  commerce  that  built 
up  and  sustained  the  Roman  empire. 

Asia  can  only  be  reached  now  through  the  Pacific,  and  France  has 
planted  the  eagles  of  the  Empire  in  Mexico  that  she  may  obtain  a 
footing  on  that  shore.  She  is  without  coal  which  is  as  necessary, 
in  this  age  of  steam,  upon  the  water  as  gunpowder  is  upon  land. 
If  she  would  contend  for  the  Pacific  trade,  with  any  hopes  of  suc- 
cess, she  must  have  coal  upon  the  Pacific  coast  England  now  holds 
all  the  coal  in  South  America,  and  France  is  without  that  indispen- 
sable article  at  home  and  abroad.  She  is  in  search  of  it  for  the 
reason  that  unless  she  can  obtain  supplies  elsewhere  than  from  Eng- 
land— where  she  now  obtains  her  coal,  she  can  never  hope  to  win 
commerce  from  that  power. 

The  nation  that  holds  the  coal  in  the  Pacific  will  possess  the  com- 
merce in  that  quarter.  Without  this  element  all  the  navies  that 
ever  floated  could  not  control  that  commerce.  And  1  will  go*  fur- 
ther, and  say  that  the  nations  which,  in  this  age,  holds  the  depots  of 
coal  on  the  Pacific  coast,  holds  and  controls  the  commerce  of  the 
world.  ■  A  mere  deposit  of  coal  on  that  coast  would  not  be  of  advan- 
tage, because  the  nation  that  has  established  its  power  there  can  and 
will  prevent  such  accumulations  of  coal  as  would  enable  a  rival  to 
become  dangerous. 


9 

It  is  with  this  view,  then,  of  controlling  the  Pacifiic  trade,  that 
Franco  has  established  her  power  in  Mexico.  To  provide  for  a 
reconptruetion  of  the  map  of  Europe— a  reconstruction  which  has 
alwajs  followed  when  the  trade  of  Asia  has  changed  hands — she  has, 
with  great  sagacity,  taken  a  prince  of  the  house  of  Austria  and 
placed  him  upon  the  throne  of  Mexico— Austria  being  the  balance 
power  which  has  always  been  used  to  restore  the  equilibrium  when 
the  map  of  Europe  has  undergone  the  process  of  reconstruction. 
The  possession  of  California  and  the  Pacific  States  would  give  to 
France  the  control  of  the  Pacific  ocean ;  and,  should  she  desire  it, 
those  States  could  fall  into  her  hands  without  a  struggle,  because 
the  United  States  cannot  send  a  steamer  to  the  Pacific.  No  war 
steamer  can  carry  coal  enough  to  reach  the  Pacific  from  any  United 
States  port. 

The  United  States  have  not  been  allowed  by  Englaud  to  deposit 
a  ton  of  coal  on  the  Atlantic  or  Pacific  side  of  South  America  since 
the  use  of  steam  on  the  ocean.     Hence,  when  France  shall  have  ob- 
tained coal  from  the  coast  range  of  mountains  in  Lower  California 
— which  she  has  appropriated  to  her  use,  as  well  as  the  Gulf  of  Cal- 
ifornia, in  which  she  can    shelter   her  fleet— she  will    be  ready  to 
seize  California  and  the  Pacific  States,  which  will    be  powerless  to 
resist  her.     To  this  consummation  does  her  present  occupancy  of 
Mexico  tend,  and  if  the  war  should  continue  a  few  months   longer, 
those  States  which  she  menaces  at  present  will  fall  under  her  con- 
trol, and  all  the  power  of  the  United  States,  were   it  a  thousand 
times  as  great  as  it  is,  could  not  prevent  her   from   holding  the  Pa- 
cific coast.     PosBeSBed  of  this  territory,  she  could  easily  destroy  the 
eoal  deposits  which  England  has  constantly  kept  on  the  Pacific,  and 
sho  would  thus  be  enabled  to  drive  England  from  that  ocean,  and  so 
wrest  from  that  power  the  empire  of  the  seas.     Under  this  catas- 
trophe England  would  lose  her  commercial  supremacy,  and  would 
fall  never  to  rise  again  :  the,  memories  of  Waterloo  and  St.  Helena 
would  be  avenged  :  the  dark  record  of  vengeance  against  "  perfid- 
ious Albion"  would  be  cancelled  in  the  triumphs  of  a  bloodless  re- 
tribution, and  the  inscrutable  man  who  to-day  directs  the  destinies 
of  France,  panoplied  in  the  cloak  of  a  stern  Beclusiveness,  would 
becomo  the  founder  of  a  dynasty. 

Jn  the  course  of  my  remarks  I  have  referred  to  the  controlling 
influence  that  the  trade  of  Asia  has  exerted  upon  the  wealth  and 
prosperity  of  nations  in  every  era  of  the  world's  history,  and  have 
indicated  that  the  possessor  of  that  trade,  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth,  prospered  with  its  continuance  and  decayed  with  its  loss. 
Sir,  the  peoplo  of  the  Confederate  States  are  essentially  agricultu- 
ral, and  nothing  is  more  difficult  than  to  convince  them  that  agn. 
culture  is  not  the  great  and  absorbing  inteiest  which  should  control 
the  actions  of  governments.  Impressed  with  the  belief  in  the  par- 
amount influence  of  agricnlture,  the  people  of  the  South  convinced 
themselves  that  cotton  was  king. 
Sir,  everything  is  great  by  comparison  only.    Cotton  being  our 


10 

t 

valuable  production,  and  an  article  from  the  manufacture  of  which 
England  derived  a  large  annual  income,  it  was  supposed  that  she 
would  not  permit  the  sources  of  supply  to  be  interrupted.  But,  sir, 
the  profit  which  England  derives  from  her  cotton  trade,  when  com- 
pared with  the  value  of  possession  and  control  of  the  trade  of  Asia, 
and  the  continuance  of  her  maritime  supremacy,  cannot  be  regarded 
as  worthy  of  notice  or  concern.  In  her  estimation,  our  cotton  bears 
the  same  relation  to  her  Pacific  trade  tlret  a  rivulet  does  to  the 
ocean. 

What  is  this  trade  of  Asia,  that  it  should  have  so  long  engaged 
the  enterprise  and  tempted  the  avarice  of  the  world  ? 

If  this  House  will  only  bear  with  me  patiently,  and  consent  to  step 
beyond  the  mere  circle  of  agriculture,  and  take  in  review  the  mighty 
movements  of  commerce,  they  will  be  the  better  prepared  to  ap- 
preciate the  nature  of  the  great  struggle  in  which  we  are  now  en- 
gaged, and  the  effect  which  its  results  must  necessarily  produce  upon 
the  commercial  interests  of  the  world. 

Let  us  but  turn  our  attention  to  Asia,  the  magnitude  and  wealth 
of  its  trade,  and  the  controlling  influence  it  has,  from  time  to  time, 
exerted  over  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

Before  the  foundation  of  Rome  the  Pyramids  of  Africa  were  lost 
in  antiquity.  They  were  wrought  by  the  hands  of  the  refluent 
wave  of  population  which  moved  from  Eastern  Asia  to  the  shores 
of  the  Mediterranean.  When  Adam  was  axpelled  from  the  garden 
of  Eden,  the  history  of  the  human  race  wai  transferred  from  Mes- 
sopotamia  to  the  East.  Their  posterity  penetrated  Asia  to  the  Paci- 
fic, until  the  superabundance  of  the  races  of  men  urged  the  tide 
once  more  to  the  West,  and  in  that  direction  it  has  continued  to 
move  until  it  has  reached  the  Pacific. 

The  early  history  of  those  great  nations  that  rose  after  the  deluge 
is  lost  in  the  misis  of  time,  or,  at  best,  is  but  vaguely  recorded;  but 
the  Pyramids  still  survive  the  wrecks  of  centuries,  vast  monuments 
of  the  progress,  genius,  industry  and  skill  of  those  who  conceived 
and  built  them.  It  is  recorded  in  the  Bible  that  Solomon  derived 
all  his  wealth  from  the  trade  of  the  East,  and  that  Book  also  fur- 
nishes data  upon  which  to  base  an  estimate  ot  the  value  of  that  trade. 
Solomon,  we  are  told,  built  Tadmor,  the  Palmyra  of  the  Plains,  as  a 
water  station,  whereat  his  caravans,  laden  with  the  rich  productions 
of  the  East,  might  rest  and  refresh  themselves.  This  city,  whereof 
the  splendor  and  opulence  were  almost  unparalleled,  stood  in  the 
desert  waste,  with  its  hundred  thousand  of  inhabitants,  its  vast  res- 
ervoirs filled  with  water,  and  its  population  supplied  with  food 
brought  on  the  backs  of  camels  from  a  distance  of  five  hundred 
miles.  From  the  fact  of  the  necessity  that  brought  forth  this  city, 
and  from  its  pomp  and  prosperity,  we  can  form  a  proper  conception 
of  the  value  and  magnitude  of  the  trade  to  which  it  owed  its  exis- 
tence. 

The  fabulous  wealth  thus  acquired  was  distributed   by  Solomon 
along  the  Mediterranean,  and   thence  arose  the  power  of  Rome, 


11 

Greece  and  Carthage.  Carthage,  resting  on  the  road  to  India,  was 
the  formidable  rival  of  Rome  and  Greece  for  the  trade  of  the  East. 
But  this  rivalry  passed  away,  when,  by  the  vicissitudes  of  war,  the 
Roman  empire  absorbed  these  two  powers,  and  the  legionary  eagles 
were  carried  far  into  Asia,  whose  untold  wealth  was  brought  to  ag- 
grandize and  enrich  the  Mistress  of  the  World. 

As  a  sequence  to  this  destruction  of  the  power  of  Carthage  and 
Greese,  and  the  monopoly  of  the  trade  of  the  East,  Rome,  bloated 
with  power  and  invincible  in  her  arms,  continued  her  encroachments 
until  Spain,  Gaul  and  Britain  fell  beneath  her  yoke,  and  her  con- 
quests extended  high  up  on  the  Baltic.  As  long  as  she  preserved 
her  trade  with  Asia,  her  strength  was  irresistible;  but  when  she  lost 
that  trade  by  the  establishment  of  the  Eastern  empire,  her  power 
disappeared,  and  she  fell  an  easy  prey  to  the  barbarians  of  the  North. 

The  rise  of  the  Saracenic  power  forms  one  of  the  most  momentoug 
chapters  in  history.  Under  the  pretence  of  a  Divine  mission,  Mo- 
hamet gathered  about  him  a  few  restless  adventurers  and  crazy  fa- 
natics, and  began  his  wonderful  career  by  plundering  the  defence- 
less villages  of  Eastern  Asia.  Attracted  by  the  fame  of  these  plun- 
dering forays,  the  nomadic  tribes  of  the  desert  flocked  to  his  stan- 
dard, until,  with  a  powerful  army,  he  penetrated  into  Asia.  Re- 
turning thence  with  the  spoils  of  four  thousamd  cities,  he  established 
a  power  that  increased  with  centuries,  until  the  votaries  of  Islam- 
ism  planted  the  crescent  upon  the  spires  of  Constantinople,  thus  ex- 
tinguishing in  the  fall  of  the  Eastern  empire,  the  last  vestige  of  that 
authority  which  for  hundreds  of  years  Rome  had  impressed  upon 
tributary  nations,  possessing  themselves  of  the  monopoly  of  the  rich 
trade  with  Asia,  and  establishing  a  barrier  between  Christendom  and 
the  productive  region  beyond  the  Bosphorus,  which  has  never  been 
removed. 

With  the  lapse  of  years,  and  still  controlling  the  trade  with  the 
East,  the  power  of  Mahometanism  was  subjected  to  the  politico  reli- 
gious war  of  the  Crusades  on  the  part  of  Christian  Europe.  But, 
sustained  by  the  wealth  that  that  trade  gave,  the  Saracens  waged 
successful  war. 

The  descendants  of  the  Goths  and  Vandals,  taking  lessons  from 
the  vanquished,  by  the  wealth  which  they  acquired  from  the  ruins 
of  the  Westren  Empire,  were  enabled  to  cultivate  the  arts  and  in- 
dulge in  intellectual  pur  g  its;  they  adopted  the  religion,  literature 
and  architecture  of  Rome  ;  and  the  wave  of  progress  again  moved 
to  the  West. 

Europe  thus  occupied  and  reclaimed  from  Nature,  where  next  the 
march  of  Empire?  To  restore  Europe  to  its  former  prosperity,  it 
was  necessary  to  win  supremacy  from  the  Saracen  in  turn,  and  to 
recover  the  trade  of  Asia.  Where  now  may  the  adventurous,  impa- 
tient European  extend  his  way?  Restless  under,  and  urged  for- 
ward by,  the  progressive  instincts  of  his  higher  nature  and  nobler 
destiny,  ancestral  Europe  seems  too  narrow,  too  contracted,  too 
small  a  sphere. 


12 

Mysterious  ocean !  thou  unknown  world  of  waters  ! — must  thy 
dread  barrier  hold  its  rule  forever  ?  The  Teuton  and  the  Celt 
meet  npoi  thy  confines  and  gaze  in  awe  upon  the  vast  expanse  of 
brino  before  them.  They  marvel  at  thy  grandeur,  thy  vastness  and 
thy  mystery.  Their  souls  are  filled  with  stranjre  thoughts.  Anon 
the  shadowy  vision  of  an  undiscovered  shore,  far,  far  beyond,  rises 
from  the  swelling  waves  before  them.  Glorious  vision !  glorious 
land !  It  is  the  dimly  revealed  outline  of  gorgeous  India — dream- 
ed of  in  palace  and  hut-  with  its  marvelous  store  of  gold,  spices 
and  precious  stones.  Yoa,  proud  waves  that  dash  your  waters  moek- 
ingly  and  defiantly  at  their  feet,  your  mysteries  will  be  explored. 
For  were  there  not  staunch  ships  wherewith  to  cross  the  waste,  and 
had  not  God  given  the  wonderful  magnet?  What  more  was  need- 
ed than  a  bold  and  adventurous  leader  ?  As  if  in  answer  to  the 
mysterious  yearnings  of  the  times,  there  arose  among  mon  one, 
whose  far-sighted  vision  no  space  could  contract— whose  fearless 
heart  no  peril  could  appal.  1  doubt,  Mr.  Speaker,  whether,  in  the 
whole  range  of  benefactors  of  the  human  race,  there  can  be  found 
one  to  approach,  in  his  faith  in  his  mission,  and  the  modesty  with 
which  he  urged  his  cause,  this  calm,  earnest,  thinking  man — no  more 
divine  in  his  attributes  than  yeu  or  I — who,  trailing  the  sword  in 
the  ante-chambers  of  princes  and  potentates,  and  knocking  with  a 
heroic  persistency  at  the  palace-gates  of  kings,  to  meet  with  rebuffs 
and  laughter  at  his  visionary  schomes,  still  breasted  the  ignorance 
and  prejudices  of  those  who  understood  him  not — pleading,  with 
outstretched  hands  :  "Give  me  but  ships,  and  I  will  tempt  this  per- 
ilous main  ;  give  me  but  ships,  and  I  will  lead  you  to  El  Dorado  I" 
In  this  latter  age  we  can  scarcely  conceive  of  the  solemnity  of  the 
spectacle  that  San  Palos  witnessed  when  the  bold  navigator  tempted 
the  illimitable  ocean  with  his  three  frail  barks ;  but  it  was  a  grand- 
er spectacle  in  its  humble  and  apparently  hopeless  venture  than  ever 
the  sun  of  Europe  shone  upon — greater,  by  far,  than  the  array  of 
armed  men  who  went  forth  a  gorgeous  multitude  of  kings,  princes, 
knights  and  men-at  arms,  to  rescue  the  Holy  Sepulchre  from  the 
hands  of  the  infidel ;  for,  by  its  immortal  sequel,  a  higher  and  no- 
bler civilization  was  given  to  man  ;  and  the  veil  that  concealed  the 
luminous  face  of  Truth  was  torn  away,  when,  in  the  vast  distance, 
the  blue  outlines  of  the  forests  of  the  New  World  fell  upon  the 
eager  gaze  of  Christopher  Columbus  and  his  followers ! 

The  discovery  of  this  continent  and  its  appropriation  by  the  Eu- 
ropeans were  the  result  of  the  eager  pursuit  of  the  trade  of  Asia. 
In  the  halls  of  the  Montezumas,  under  the  burning  sun  of  Mexico, 
the  cavaliers  of  Spain  and  Portugal  drew  tribute  from  the  Aztecs, 
the  Children  of  the  Sun.  The  whole  of  South  America,  Florida 
and  Louisiana  acknowledged  their  supremacy.  The  Atlantic  slope 
east  of  the  Alleghanies,  fell  to  the  lot  of  Teutonic  Anglo-Saxon, 
and  the  Celtic  race  of  France  redeemed  from  barbarism  the  Cana- 
das,  carrying  their  emprise  farfnto  the  Mississippi  basin,  until  they 
were  compelled  to  yield  the  whole  of  their  vast  American  posaes- 
siona  to  their  hated  foe,  the  indomitable  mistress  of  the  seas. 


IS 

England  obtained  a  footing  in  India  in  the  manner  before  alluded 
to,  and  at  that  early  period  of  which  I  speak,  saw  that  the  trade  of 
Asia  could  be  controlled  from  this  continent  alone.  Thus  was  it 
that,  on  this  continent,  commenced  the  struggle  between  England 
and  France  for  the  trade  of  the  Pacific — France  endeavoring,  by 
the  establishment  of  a  chain  of  forts  between  the  Lakes  and  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  to  prevent  the  entrance  of  England  into  the  West. 

France  was  driven  from  her  possessions,  and  England  chartered 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  so  that  it  might  push  its  explorations  and 
hold  the  Pacific  coast.  The  first  war  for  our  independence  afforded 
France  another  opportunity  to  obtain  the  trade  of  India.  She  took 
part  in  that  struggle,  as  I  have  shown,  wiih  the  results  before 
stated. 

England  had  always  regarded  the  United  States  as  her  most  for- 
midable rival  for  the  trade  of  the  Pacific,  and  she  made  every  effort 
to  retard  her  development.  Her  claim  to  the  right  of  search  was 
but  a  pretext  upon  which  to  wage  war  whenever  the  rising  power 
of  the  Uuited  States  should  assume  formidable  proportions.  When 
Napoleon  Bonaparte  sold  Louisiana  and  all  the  country  west  of  the 
Mississippi,  held  by  the  United  States  prior  to  the  war  with  Mexico, 
he  gave  as  his  reason  for  selling  the  whole,  (when  we  only  offered 
to  buy  Louisiaua)  that  he  could  not  hold  it  as  England  had  driven 
him  from  tho  seas  ;  but  that  he  desired  the  young  giant  America  to 
possess  it,  because  he  knew  that,  at  no  distant  day,  America  would 
break  England's  power  by  driving  her  from  the  Pacific.  This  was 
in  1801.  In  1802  Captain  Grey  discovered  the  mouth  of  the  Co- 
lumbia river.  In  1806  Mr.  Jefferson  sent  Lewis  and  Clarke  to  ex- 
plore tho  Missouri  river  and  cross  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  de- 
scend the  Columbia  to  the  Pacific. 

In  1808  Mr.  Astor,  a  merchant  of  New  York,  established  As- 
toria, a  trading  port  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia.  This  alarmed 
England,  and  the  war  of  1812  was  the  result,  as  the  first  act  of  hos- 
tilities was  committed  by  the  Tonquin,  an  English  war-vessel 
which  entered  the  harbor  and  took  possession  of  Astoria  and  a  ves- 
sel loaded  with  furs,  belonging  to  Mr.  Astor.  That  vessel  remain- 
ed there  until  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  by  which  peace  was  declared 
between  England  and  the  United  States.  England  declared  that 
peace  could  only  be  conclnded  on  the  este  posseditis  principle,  which 
would  give  her  that  harbor  as  she  had  possessed  it  during  the  war. 

Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Clay,  who  negotiated  that  treaty,  were  in- 
structed to  demand  as  the  condition  of  peace  the  statu  quo  ante  bellum. 
For  six  weeks  negotiations  were  suspended  on  the  claim  of  England,' 
as  before  stated,  to  the  harbor  of  Astoria.  The  treaty  was  at  last 
made  by  agreement  to  hold  the  Pacific  coast  in  joint  occupancy. 
;  In  1824  the  United  States  began  to  appreciate  the  value  of  her 
Pacific  possessions,  and  being  unwilling  to  continue  the  joint  occu- 
pancy, she  sent  Mr.  Rush  ostensibly  to  negotiate  for  the  navigation 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  river,  and  to  provide  more  effectually  for  the 
suppression  of  the  slave  trade,  but  the  primary  object  was  to  settle 


14 

the  difficulty  in  regard  to  the  Northwestern  boundary.  As  soon  as 
Mr.  Rush  made  known  the  claim  of  the  United  States,  and  that  she 
was  determined  to  hold  the  Columbia  river,  Mr.  Canning,  the 
Premier  of  England,  with  great  earnestness  vehemently  stated  that 
England  would  never  consent  to  the  abandonment  of  her  claim  to  that 
river.  This,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  the  only  harbor  owned  at 
that  time  by  the  United  StateB  on  the  Pacific,  and,  if  England  could 
hate  held  it,  her  Pacific  trade  would  never  have  been  eadangered. 
But  it  was  held  by  the  United  States,  and  it  was  England's  policy 
to  throw  every  obstacle  in  her  way  to  prevent  communication  with 
her  Pacific  coast.  She  required  of  the  South  American  Provinces 
— hopelessly  in  her  debt— that  they  should  not  allow  the  United 
States  Government  to  establish  a  depot  of  coal  on  either  the  Atlan- 
tic or  Pacific  side  of  South  America,  and  that  if  war  should  occur 
between  her  and  the  United  States,  no  vessels  of  the  latter  should 
be  allowed  to  enter  a  harbor  on  either  coast  for  shelter  from  storms. 
By  this  means  England  hoped  to  retard  the  development  of  the 
power  of  the  United  States  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and,  also,  that  if  it 
attempted  to  interfere  with  her  trade,  she  would  be  enabled  easily 
to  drive  it  from  that  ocean. 

A  vessel  of  war  leaving  a  European  or  a  United  States  port 
cannot  carry  coal  enough  to  reach  the  Pacific,  and,  unless  depots  of 
coal  are  established  on  that  coast,  steam  vessels  cannot  be  used  on 
that  ocean. 

England  has  her  depots,  no  other  nation  has ;  and  hence  she  can 
hold  the  Pacific  against  the  nations  of  the  world,  unless  their  power 
is  firmly  established  on  that  coast  by  the  construction  of  dock-yards, 
foundries,  &c.  This  the  United  States  was  rapidly  bringing  about ; 
England  saw  that  the  moment  had  come  to  check  her  progress,  and 
hence  this  war. 

But  let  us  look  again  at  the  watchful  anxiety  that  England  has 
manifested  in  regard  to  the  development  of  the  power  of  the  United 
States  on  the  Pacific.  After  the  war  with  Mexico,  we  acquired 
eight  hundred  additional  miles  of  coast  on  the  Pacific,  and  the  har- 
bor of  San  Francisco.  Soon  gold  was  discovered  in  California,  and 
the  tide  of  immigration  tended  rapidly  to  the  Pacific.  The  Isthmus 
of  Panama  had  become  a  highway  for  the  United  States,  and  a  rail- 
road was  about  to  be  constructed  connecting  the  two  oceans  at  that 
point,  which,  if  owned  by  a  United  States  company  and  controlled 
by  the  United  States,  would  have  given  it  great  advantages,  not  only 
in  protecting  its  coast,  but  might  have  enabled  it  to  become  a  rival 
for  the  Pacific  trade.  This  England  could  not  allow.  Let  us  see 
how  ingenious  she  was  in  her  devices  to  control  the  transit  of  the 
Isthmus. 

On  that  coast  there  was  a  tribe  of  Indians  consisting  of  several 
hundred  miserable,  half-starved  wretches,  wko  were  known  as  the 
Musquito  Indians.  These  she  took  under  her  protection,  and  claimed 
for  them  the  right  to  control  the  transit  facilities,  which  were  settled 
on  her  own  conditions— she  obtaining  equal   facilities  on  the  con- 


15 

templated  railroad  with  the  United  States  during  peace  ;  but  if  war 
should  occur  between  them,  then  the  United  States  would  not  be 
allowed  to  use  it.  To  this  the  United  States  assented,  because  it 
was  seen  that  England  was  terribly  in  earnest,  and  would  bare  gone 
to  war  rather  than  allow  any  approach  to  India  which  she  could  uot 
control. 

The  Congress  of  the  United  States  orders  a  survey  for  a  railroad 
from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Pacific.  England  immediately  orders  the 
construction  of  a  continuous  railroad  from  New  Foundlatid  to  Ptt- 
get's  Sound ;  and  to-day  that  railroad  has  crossed  the  Mississippi, 
and  soon — perhaps  during  this  war— it  will  be  finished  to  the  Pa- 
cific. 

Alarmed  by  the  rapidly  developing  power  of  the  United  States 
on  that  coast,  England  purchased  one  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  on 
the  line  of  the  trade  to  India,  and,  in  1860,  was  constructing  a 
Gibraltar,  filling  it.  with  naval  stores. 

This  I  have  stated  in  order  to  give  this  House  some  conception  of 
the  estimate  in  which  she  holds  her  position  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and 
with  what  jealousy  she  has  ever  regarded  the  approach  of  the  United 
States  to  what  she  knows  to  be  the  secret  of  her  power. 

England  will  grant  you  recognition  and  independence  and  any- 
thing that  you  may  ask,  sooner  than  permit  the  United  States  to  hold 
the  undisputed  possession  of  the  Pac:fic  coast,  which,  she  knows, 
will  cost  her  the  empire  of  the  seas. 

Whilst  England  has  been  busy  watching  the  movements  of  the 
United  States  in  America,  there  ha*  been  in  Europe  another  power 
which  has  given  her  as  much  uneasiness,  and  that  power  is  Russia. 
To  check  the  movements  of  Russia,  since  the  age  of  railroads,  has 
cost  her  great  expenditure  of  blood  and  treasure.  Since  the  days 
of  Peter  the  Great,  Russia  has  sought  to  obtain  the  trade  of  India. 
Resting  on  the  Arctic  Circle,  her  territory  extends  far  down  into 
Asia,  Europe  and  America;  her  Southern  line,  in  Asia,  resting  on 
the  Chinese  empire  for  2,000  miles.  Driven  by  England  from  the 
seas,  Russia  had  made  some  progress  into  India  before  the  railroad 
came  to  her  aid.  Over  a  land  portage  of  more  than  2,000  miles,  on 
the  backs  of  mules,  she  transported  the  rich  productions  of  the  East, 
and  supplied  half  ot  Europe  with  the  product  of  the  labor  of  India. 
Repeated  efforts  have  been  made  by  Russia  to  open  her  way  to  the 
ocean;  but  England  has  stood  with  one  hand  on  the  Danish  Belt  and 
with  the  other  on  the  Dardanelles,  and  has  kept  her  from  the  Pacific. 
But  the  steam  horse  came  to  her  relief,  and  in  1840  she  commenced 
her  system  of  railroads. 

With  a  "r;iiid  trunk, double  track  railroad  from  St.  Petersburg  to 
Moscow,  there  branching  off — one  going  into  Siberia,  and  the  other 
going  down  in  the  direction  of  the  Block  sea,  and  stretching  across 
to  the  Caspian  in  Asia— she  had  obtaineO  of  the  Shah  of  Persia  a  right 
of  way  to  extend  her  road  to  Kelat,  the  capital  of  Beloochistan,  thus 
penetiating  farther  into  Asia  than  any  European  power  had  done 
before. 


16 

This  was  alarming  to  England.  To  meet  Russia  on  that  ground, 
she  obtains  the  right  of  way  from  the  Germanic  Confederacy  to 
construct  a  railroad  up  the  Rhine,  down  the  Danube,  crossing  the 
Dardanelles  at  Constantinople,  and  through  Turkey  in  Asia  to  the 
Persian  Gulf.  To  prevent  the  construction  of  this  railroad,  Rusaia 
determined  to  drive  the  Turks  from  Constantinople,  and  the  Cri- 
mean war  was  the  result.  England  took  part  in  this  war  against 
Russia — not  from  any  maudlin  sympathy  with  a  weaker  power,  but 
because  she  was  aware  that  if  Russia  should  succeed  in  opening  the 
western  gate  of  Asia,  the  wealth  of  India  would  flow  back  to  its 
former  channels,  and  that  whilst  she  was  in  condition  to  meet  united 
Europe  on  the  water,  she  could  not  resist  the  combined  power  of 
Europe  on  the  land.  Therefore  was  it  that,  in  order  to  ensure  her 
continued  possession  of  her  Pacific  trade,  she  made  common  cause 
with  Turkey  a?xl  France  against  Russia,  knowing,  as  she  did,  that 
that  trade  would  be  lost  to  her  by  the  expulsion  of  the  Turkish 
power  from  the  Bosphorus :  for,  with  the  establishment  of  Russian 
authority  upon  the  ruins  of  Constantinople,  'he  Asiatic  trade  would 
desert  the  highway  of  the  Pacific,  and  would  seek  its  old  and  nat- 
ural channel  of  outlet. 

When  England's  trade  with  India  was  endangered,  her  hypocrisy 
was  laid  bare,  and  her  abolition  sentimentalism  did  not  stand  as  an 
obstacle  to  her  countenancing  and  preserving  a  slave  power  in  Eu- 
rope, in  the  chief  city  and  capital  of  which— Constantinople — white 
men  and  women,  the  hapless  but  beautiful  maids  of  Circassia,  and  the 
wreiched  captives  torn  from  their  homes  in  the  razzias  of  the  Turco- 
man, were  exposed  for  sale  daily  in  the  markets-  No  sir ;  rather 
than  put  her  cherished  trade  with  India  in  jeopardy,  she  went  to  war 
with  Russia  and  preserved  a  pro-slavery  government  that  owes  its 
existence  to  day  only  to  the  moral  protection  afforded  by  her  coun- 
tenance. 

By  an  exercise  of  the  cunning  diplomacy  which  has  ever  distin- 
guished her,  and  in  order  to  make  sure  that  France  should  not  have 
the  opportunity  for  gathering  her  strength  for   another  attempt  at 
securing  the  Pacific  trade,  whilst  hers  should  be  exhausted  in  a  war 
of  such  magnitude,  England  induced  that  power   to   espouse  the 
Turkish  cause  in  the-attempt  to  prevent  Russia's  establishing  a  foot- 
hold upon   the  Bosphorus.     The  bribe,  by  the  means  of  which  the 
cooperation  of  France  was  secured,  was  the  promise  of  the  divis- 
ion, between  herself  and  England,  of  the  trade  of  Asia.     Franco 
accepted  the  proposal,  for  while  sho  greedily  coveted  this  lucrative 
and  strength-giving  trade,  she  was  well  aware  that  she  could  never 
wrest  it  from  her  old-time  rival  by  the  arbitrament  of  war — her  na- 
val power  being  uselesB  against  the  staunch  ships  and  mariners  of 
England. 

After  the,falfof  Fabastotal,  the  "holy  alliance"  ^as  maintained. 
The  victors  of  Balaklava  and  the  Alma,  in  pursuance  of  the  entente 
cordiale  that  had  been  inaugurated  upon  the  battle  fields  of  the 
Crimea— the   descendants  of  the   "Old  Guard"  of  the  days  of  the 

2 


Empire,  and  the  inheritors  of  the  fame  and  uniform  of  the  "  Eanis- 
killen  Greys,"  who  had  fought  and  bled  at  Waterloo— marched 
away  to  storm  the  exclusiveness  of  the  Celestial  Empire— to  batter 
dowri  its  forts— to  enter  its  Capital,  and,  on  the  wrecks  of  Chinese 
arrogance  and  mystery,  to  extort  a  commercial  treaty,  whereby  the 
ports  of  China  were  opened  up  to  the  trade  of  the  world.  With 
this  consummation  of  her  hopes  and  wishes,  came  the  ultimate  tri- 
umph of  England's  policy.  Fresh  from  victorious  war  with  the 
•'  giant  liar''  of  the  North,  she  <rave  the  finishing  stroke  to  Russian 
progress  by  sending  Sir  James  Outram.  with  12.000  men,  to  Ispahan 
to  demand  of  Persia  the  revocation  of  the  r'ght-of-way  to  construct 
the  railroad  to  which  1  have  referred,  granted  by  her  to  Russia  : 
and,  with  Persia's  submission  to  tkis  demand,  Russia  was  again 
driven  out  of  Asia. 

As  an  additional  bribe  to  France,  England  proposed  that  that  pow- 
er should  open  the  Suez  canal,  connecting  the  Mediterranean  with 
the  Red  sen,  which  would  give  France  the  trade  of  one  half  of  Asia. 
Hut,  in  so  doing,  her  own  purposes  would  be  accomplished;  for 
Fran;  e,  -cited  upon  the  Rosphoius,  would  perform  England's  mis- 
sion, by  vicariously  watching  Russia  and  deterring  thit  power  from 
an  attempted  completion  of  the  railroad  to  India.  Of  the  useless- 
ncss  of  the  task  undertaken  by  France,  England  was  well  aware  ; 
for  she  knew,  before  the  work  of  digging  the  canal  was  commenced, 
that  the  shifting  sand  of  irt  would  till    it  up   as  before,  and 

obliterate  even  rhe  line  of  its  construction.  France,  however,"  for 
twelve  years  has  persevered  in  her  labor  of  digging,  and  with  a 
barren  result. 

Coming  down  in  my  argument  to  the  question  of  the  present  war. 
I  will  show  how  England,  having  hastened  the  consummation  o! 
designs  in  creating  the  abolition  sentiment,  was  now  placed  in  a 
most  critical  condition.  On  the  one  hand,  the  United  States  was 
in  a  coudition  to  assert  her  claim  to  the  Pacific  trade  ;  on  the  other 
the  complications  of  her  European  policy  would,  again,  soon  give 
her  trouble.  Therefore,  in  order  the  better  to  be  prepared  for 
what  might  follow,  it  was  necessary  that  some  of  her  rivals  should 
be  destroyed. 

A  war  of  .sections  in  the  United  States  would  destroy  her  mofct 
powerful  rival;  and,  by  a  further  exercise  of  her  peculiar  arts  of 
intrigue,  the  present  bloody  war  was  brought  about— it  being, 
we  are  all  aware,  the  natural  result  of  that  pragmatic  and  intrusive 
spirit,  instigated  by  England,  which  the  North  has,  for  the  pa3t 
twenty  years,  evinced  towards  the  South. 

Whilst  this  war,  then,  was  the  easy  result  of  England's  diploma- 
cy, France  did  not  fail  to  avail  herself  of  the  opportunities  that  it 
afforded  her.  Comprehending  England's  motives,  she  established 
herself  in  Mexico,  in  order  that  she  might  be  ready  to  enact  her 
part  in  the  bloody  drama  that  was  progressing  in  America,  when,  by 
mutual  eshaastion,  the  combatants  would  be  unable  to  offer  a  vi- 
gorous resistance  to  the  attempt   of  England  to   seize  the  Pacific 


18 

States.  France  has  no  coal,  and  hence  the  coast  range  of  moun- 
tains in  Lower  California  (which,  I  learn,  abounds  in  that  mineral 
as  well  as  in  iron,)  was  necessary  for  her  designs.  Having  no  har- 
bor on  that  coast,  she  took  the  Gulf  of  California,  which  she  re- 
tains as  her  possession. 

Thus,  as  I  have  shown,  Mr.  Speaker,  the  policy  and  diplomacy  of 
France  and  England  stand  revealed. 

In  this  progressive  age,  when  countless  steam  vessels  cross  die  At- 
lantic, as  once  sailing  vessels  crossed  the  Straits  of  Dover,  that  ocean 
has  become  the  Mediterranean  of  the  world,  and  old  Europe,  with  her 
history,  her  conruerce  and  her  traditions,  is,  as  it  were,  transferred 
to  our  very  midst.  Have  we  not  the  same  language,  the  same  reli- 
gion, the  same  literature  and  the  same  architecture  ?  Are  not  our 
facilities  for  crossing  the  Atlantic  great  r  than  were  the  facilities 
for  crossing  the  Mediterranean  in  the  days  of  Rome  ?  Are  not  na- 
tions as  eager  for  wealth  and  pr>wer  now  as  they  wer<  then  ?  Is  it 
not  the  same  India  that  rises  before  their  longing  eves— the  same 
land  of  fabulous  plenty  to  obtain  which  they  have  braved  so  much, 
and  squandered  such  oceans  of  blood  ?  Are  not  Russia,  England, 
the  United  States,  France  and  Austria  collecting  their  strength  to- 
day on  the  Pacific  in  an  armed  preparation  for  the  giant  struggle 
which  must  come  sooner  or  later,  where  India  sh?!:  be  the  stake, 
and  the  dominion  of  the  world— commercial  supremacy,  and  the 
wealth  of  the  richest  land  on  the  globe  the  guerdon? 

We  hold  the  balance  of  power  in  our  hai  Is;  e  use  it?     If 

we  would  do  so,  adopt  this  resolution.  Let  these  encroaching  na- 
tions of  Europe,  intent  only  on  their  own  aggrandizement,  feel  that 
we  understand  their  purposes,  and  that,  in  ord  lin  the  end  of 

our  independence,  we  are  prepared  to  use  the  power  that  has  been 
delegated  to  us  by  the  inexorable  march  of  events 

How,  then,  should  we  make  use  of  this  power  ?  By  Baying  to  the 
United  States :  We  will  unite  our  power  to  yours  for  the  purpose  of 
driving  England  and  France  from  this  Continent,  to  secure  our  in- 
dependence. Those  nations  would  not  dare  to  test  this  power  thus 
united.  Can  they  send  a  million  of  men  to  these  shores  and  keep 
them  supplied  with  food  and  munitions  of  war?  If  they  cannot  do 
this  they  would  have  no  hope  of  preserving  their  hold  on  the  Pacific. 
■  But.  admit  that  they  have  the  men  and  the  ships  to  wage  such  a 
war.  What  would  be  the  condition  of  Europe  when  France  and 
Endand  withdrew  ail  their  armies ?  Would  no t  Russia  drive  the 
trembling  Osmanli  from  the  gate  of  Western  Asia,  before  which  he 
has  so  long  squatted,  and  forever  establish  her  power  there? 

Sir.  they  will  neve-  attempt  war  on  this  Continent,  but  will  rather 
hasten,  to  offer  you  better  terms  than  the  United  States,  in  order  to 
prevent  the  consolidation  of  power  con  empiat^d  by  this  resolution. 
Those  terms  would  be,  in  my  judgment,  such  as  to  cause  us  to  reject 
any  that  Lincoln  is  likely  to  give,  and  will  be  wortny  of  considera- 
tion. 

It  may  be  said  that  England  and  France  would,  if  compelled  to 


10 

leave  the  Pacific  shore  of  America,  descend  to  the  coast  of  South 
America  and  establish  their  power  by  subjugating  some  of  the  pro- 
vinces on  the  Pacific.  This.  sir.  can  never  be  done.  South  America 
is  under  the  ban.  A  glance  at  the  map  will  show  that  the  Andes,  or 
Rocky  Mountains,  rise  from  the  waves  of  the  Pacific,  leaving  scarce- 
ly enough  water  shed  to  support  the  miserable  inhabitants  who  dwell 
there.  At  one  point,  in  Chili,  the  mountains  recede  from  the  shore 
and  leave  a  strip  of  land  which  is  barren,  and  the  necessaries  of  life 
can  be  obtained  by  irrigation  only.  Another  great  obstacle  is  that 
the  people  there  are  a  rronsrel  race — an  unhappy  fusion  of  the 
Americo-Celtic  race  with  the  Indians,  which  has,  as  in  all  cases  of 
fusion  between  a  superior  and  an  inferior  race,  resulted  disastrously 
to- both.  The  people  are  incapable  of  progress  and  development. 
They  have  made  scarcely  any  progress  for  a  century — scarcely 
enough  energy  being  left  them  to  drive  the  serpent  from  their  doors. 

Sir,  1  repeat,  South  America, is  under  the  ban,  and  can  never  be 
redeemed. 

But,  sir,  if  it  were  otherwise — if  the  inhabitants  of  South  Ameri- 
ca were  of  the  Teutonic  Anglo-Saxon  race,  the  physical  geography 
of  the  seas,  as  mapped  out  by  the  immortal  Maury,  who,  to  use  a 
figure  of  speech,  has  blazed  the  trees  on  the  ocean,  revealing  to  the 
navigator  all  its  paths— would  preclude  her  adaptability  to  com- 
merce.    Her  ports  cannot  command  the  trade  of  Asia. 

A  ship  starting  from  any  South  American  port  would  strike  the 
Humboldt  current,  which  forms  an  elipse  moving  southwest,  reaching 
the  East  Pacific  south  of  Australia,  and  moving  back  to  the  coast  of 
South  America.  The  winds  along  this  current  are  not  strong  and 
steady,  and  to  reach  China  by  this  route  would  be  1,500  miles  fur- 
ther than  from  a  California  port.  Again,  in  order  for  a  vessel  to 
reach  the  China  seas  from  a  South  American  port,  the  Zone  of 
Calms,  extending  several  degrees  above  and  below  the  Equator,  has  to 
be  passed  on  the  outward  and  inward  bound  vessel.  This  necessi- 
tates, in  the  case  of  a  sailing  vessel,  thirty  or  sixty  days  delay.  These 
natural  obstacles  can  never  be  overcome,  and  it  must  forever  close 
those  ports  to  the  Asiatic  trade. 

What  are  the  advantages  of  our  Pacific  coast  ?  Between  the 
Rocky  Mountains  and  the  coast,  there  is  one  of  the  finest  Deltas  in 
the  world,  with  magnificent  rivers  and  harbors,  with  climate  and 
productions  and  mineral  wealth  enough  to  support  a  population  of 
two  hundred  millions,  and  the  irrepressibly  progressive  Teuton 
holds  it  and  knows  its  advantages. 

What  are  the  advantages  in  winds  and  currents  from  our  shores  ? 
The  great  Equatorial  current,  starting  high  up  on  the  coast  of  Cal- 
ifornia, moves  southwest  and  strikes  Central  Asia,  and  returning, 
moves  northwest  and  returns  to  our  shore.  So  steady  and  constant 
is  this  current,  that  a  vessel  from  California  would  be  carried,  with- 
out rudder,  to  the  coast  of  India,  and  returning,  would  strike  the 
coast  of  Oregon.  These  wind?  move  as  constantly  as  the  tide.  The 
ea«t  winds  take  oat  the  vessel?  and  the  west  winds  bring  them  back. 


20 

The  winds  move  as  constantly  as  the  currents,  and  move  as  un- 
changeably as  the  earth  around  the  sun.  Commercial  nations  know 
this  and  have  gone  there  in  pursuit  of  these  advantages. 

And  now,  Mr.  Speaker,  having  concluded  the  argument  which  I  had 
proposed  to  myself  to  submit  to  this  House  in  support  of  the  reso- 
lution which  I  have  offered  today,  let  me  speak  briefly  of  the  won- 
derful future  that  is  marked  cut  for  the  western  coast  of  this  Con- 
tinent.    Under  the  guidincr   hand  of   Providence,  the  efforts   and 
struggles  of  nations  are  but  links  in  the  mysterious  chain  of  the 
manifest  destiny  of  the  human  race.     That  was    no  poetical  fancy 
that    urged  the  poet  to   say  that  to  the  West  the  Star  of  Empire 
takes  its  way.    For  it  is  a  truth  as  solemn  as  it  is  mysterious— un- 
certain to  our  mortal  eyes  as  may  be  the  march  of  human  events— 
that  the  standards  of  civilization,  gathering  beneath  them  the  devo 
tees  of  literature,  science  and  the  arts,  have  poured,  for  the  last- 
eighteen   hundred   years,   from  the  lands   of  the  East  to  the  lands 
of  the  West.  Ever  with  their  faces  turned  to  the  setting  sun,  have  the 
children  of  men  treaded   westward,  throwing  no  look   backward, 
and  developing  themselves  as  they  hare  mo^ed  in  a  higher  and 
more  progressive    being.     From   the  towers  of  Chaldam    and  the 
marvellous  masonry  of  Assyria's  Capital :  from  the  splendors  of 
Tyre  and  power  of  Carthage;  from   the  glories  of  Byzantium  to 
the  civilization  of  Europe  ;  from  the  civilization  of  Europe,  across 
the  vastness  of  the  ocean,  the  races  of  men  have  abandoned  their 
old  landmarks  and  have  sought  a  new  destiny  in  the  West,     And 
when,  with  a  prophetic  eye,  we  look  out  upon  the   future  of  this 
Continent,  our  mental  gaze  fastens  upon  a  spectacle  of  an  Empire 
that  shall  arise  upon  the  slope  of  the  Pacific,  surpassing  in  grandeur 
the  most  opulent  nation  whereof  history  has  preserved  the  record ; 
and  it  is  a  part  of  the  wise  legislation  of  our  country  to  see  that 
the  language  of  this  great  Empire  shall  be  our  language,  that  its 
principles   shall  be  our  principles,  and  that  the  history  whereto  it 
shall  look  back  as  its  early  annals  shall  be  the  history  that  we  are 
making  to-day.  3 


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